As a user moves from one software (e.g. Microsoft Word) application (e.g. Microsoft Word™) to another (e.g. Firefox™), the user leaves the functionality of the first application behind. For example, when a user “exits” or “minimizes” Microsoft Word and enters Firefox, the features in Microsoft Word are no longer available in Firefox.
The lack of continuity between applications is generally not a problem with conventional software, as most software functionality centers on the specific application. For example, a “Draw” function in Microsoft Word is not likely to be useful to a user engaged in browsing the web using Firefox. Therefore a user moving from Microsoft Word to Firefox does not experience a meaningful lack of functionality when he/she no longer has access to the functions that were present in Microsoft Word.
Multi-Media functions, such as Video, Radio, RSS and Flash present a unique challenge, particularly if these multi-media functions are embedded in software applications. If multi-media functions are embedded in software applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel™ or Thunderbird™, the user will experience a loss of continuity if the content does not “follow” the user as he/she moves from one software application to another. For example, a user watching a Video embedded in a session of Microsoft Excel may wish to continue watching the show as he/she opens a session of Thunderbird.
Presently, “media players”, such as Windows Media Player™, Apple Quick Time™ and others play a session of content inside a single session of the media player software. This leads to two challenges for the user:                1. Unless the media player is in the foreground, the user will not be able to see the content being played. This limits the user, by preventing the user from launching any software applications that would overlay the media player.        2. If the user launches another session of a media player and requests the same content that was being watched in the previous session, the content will not start playing at the precise point that the previous sessions was playing. In effect, a second session of the media player will cause a completely new session of the same video that is not coordinated with the video that was being watched in the first session.        
These problems become increasingly acute as the user opens subsequent software applications and wishes to continue watching the same multi-media content.
In the current state of the art, a user wishing to view the same video as he/she moves between software applications must be resigned to having a single media player permanently in the foreground. This presents two negative consequences:                a) If a software application has been selected that also needs to occupy the same area of the screen, the media player will over-write this area of the screen, obscuring the application beneath.        b) If the user elects to run the media player on part of the screen that is not used by the other software applications, the user will be left with a substantially smaller area of the screen in which to run other applications.        
Additionally, media players:                1. Do not allow the user to control settings, such as the volume, if the media player is not running as the foreground application.        2. Do not allow the user to run multiple media sessions, such as multiple video sessions, at the same time.        
What is needed is a Software System that will coordinate multiple media sources and display the content across multiple software sessions seamlessly, as the user moves between software applications. In addition, the Software System should offer the user the ability to control the settings of the media, e.g. volume and channel, in all of the software applications supported by the Software System.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related thereto are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.